Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Because the afternoon rush had slowed, I had an opportunity to ruminate on this, a pit forming in my stomach with the knowledge that there was no way that this could end well.
That was until the bell over the door tolled, and motorcycle boots thumped on the wooden floor.
My heart skipped as my eyes locked with Swiss’s. All my troubles shrank, and my body sang with his presence.
His eyes slid up and down my body slowly. My knees shook under the weight of his stare.
The café was housed in one of the older buildings in town, and it had AC that was fine if you were sitting down enjoying a coffee and something to eat, but not so much if you were running around and in and out of a hot kitchen. Beyond that, it was New Mexico in the middle of summer. The heat was dry, unyielding, and seemed to seep through every crack of the building.
Not that I minded it. I adored the summer. I hated winter. Trudging through the snow, my fingers numb if I forgot gloves, the sensation of never being able to get warm.
I was in my element here. Especially since there was absolutely no dress code at the café and not an eyebrow was raised at the frayed denim skirt I was wearing paired with cowboy boots and a slouchy black top that exposed my left shoulder.
I didn’t consider the outfit ‘sexy’ in any kind of way, but that all changed with Swiss’s eyes on me.
The New Mexico summer had nothing on the heat he emitted.
My breath went shallow, and I opened my mouth to greet him, or to declare my undying fealty to him, but he spoke first.
“Kate’s on break,” Swiss barked at Julian.
I scowled at him, a simple expression that I was only just learning I was safe to have. Along with the pissed tone I spoke in next. “You are not the boss here,” I hissed. “And you do not have the authority to tell the owner of this café when I can go on break.”
While I was saying this, Swiss was untying my apron, and I was too dumbfounded to physically fight him.
I stood in horror as he tossed the apron on the counter.
“Swiss!” I scolded. “I’ve got work to do.”
A chuckle sounded from behind us. “Sweetheart, don’t think he’s gonna take no for an answer, and I for one am not brave enough to fight him with that look in his eyes,” Julian interjected. “Plus, you’re due for a break.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him, since there was still a long line of people waiting for coffee, but Swiss took that moment to drag me off.
Drag. Me. Off.
I didn’t fight him at first because I was surprised, and because I didn’t want to make a scene. Then I got a look at his face, the look in his eyes, and I was no longer thinking about fighting him.
I was thinking about something else entirely.
“Swiss, you can’t just drag me out of work because you want to have sex with me,” I protested as he pulled us off the sidewalk and down the alleyway that ran down the side of the building.
The alleyway itself was quiet. The building on the other side of it was a quaint antique store that was closed on weekends. I looked lovingly at the window displays of the store whenever I walked into work, imagining walking in there, buying the jade green lamp or the vintage oil painting of a cottage garden.
But I never went in.
Because I did not have a home to put a jade green lamp in or a wall to hang a painting on.
Right now, though, I was not thinking about lamps or paintings. I was thinking about Swiss taking me down an alley in broad daylight with a certain look in his eyes.
“Swiss!” I snapped when he didn’t respond to me, yanking the arm he was dragging me with.
He stopped walking, but he did not turn to have a conversation with me. Instead, he pushed me against the brick wall and started kissing me.
I responded immediately, the reality that there was a sidewalk at the opening of the alley not far away disappearing from my mind. The brick was rough against my skin as Swiss pressed his body into mine, his hands shoving my skirt up to my waist.
I wasn’t sure whether I was clawing at him, trying to tear his clothes off, or if I was just holding on for dear life. All I knew was that I met his desperate, carnal hunger with something animal of my own.
Maybe I blacked out, or maybe I was drowning in the clashing of our mouths, but at some point, he’d freed himself from his jeans, and my panties were pushed to the side. My leg went around his hip, then he plunged inside of me. I was already soaking wet for him, from the second he’d started to drag me from the café, despite my protests.